Friends and families nationwide gathered over the weekend to commemorate Juneteenth (June 19), a renowned holiday in the Black community. It serves as a reminder of when enslaved Texans’ shackles broke, enabling the country to say slavery officially ended.
But slavery ending didn’t protect Black Americans in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from the hell that unleased on the city’s thriving Black community, Greenwood, dubbed the “Black Wall Street.” Nicknamed the Tulsa Massacre, the tragedy marked one of the most gruesome moments in American history. Brave survivors like 109-year-old Viola Ford Fletcher, who was seven when the race riot broke, tell their and their family’s stories to ensure no one forgets America’s most heinous crime.
In an interview with the Daily News, Fletcher announced she would release her book, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words,” recounting the details of the Tulsa Massacre next month on Independence Day.
“I saw and heard people screaming and running and falling, houses burning, guns shooting,” Fletcher recalled. “And the rushing of Black people out of town before most of us was killed.”
The Tulsa Massacre happened on May 31, 1921, when hundreds of Black citizens died over the span of 18 hours. But the events the day prior (May 30, 1921) led to the hellfire.
A Black man and shoe shiner named Dick Rowland, 19, was accused of sexually assaulting 17-year-old elevator operator Sarah Page. An angry white mob caught wind of the incident and demanded the sheriff hand him over. The sheriff declined, which angered the white mob, especially because 25 Black men ensured they protected Rowland.
The white men then armed themselves and attacked Greenwood, burning and destroying numerous houses and businesses.
“The white citizens were taking the Molotov cocktails and throwing them into the buildings,” 56-year-old Ike Howard, Fletcher’s grandson, said. “They threw bodies in the river, kids in the river. Dead bodies thrown in the river so they wouldn’t have to bury them.”
Fletcher shared with her grandson the horrific and traumatic scenes that played out before her as a child.
“My grandmother said that the ashes were coming from the sky like snow, and the tears were black. You couldn’t see, and [there was] coughing and hacking,” Howard explained.
Following the tragedy, news stories of the massacre and government records of the mass killing disappeared. Schools and history books refrained from teaching students about it as if it never occurred.
He explained that his grandmother and her 102-year-old brother, Hughes “Uncle Red” Van Ellis, who was an infant when the incident happened, struggled to sleep due to nightmares about the event.
Certain things currently trigger Fletcher and Ellis, returning them to the massacre.
“They can’t enjoy a normal barbecue because when they see or smell smoke, they have a physical and mental reaction,” Howard shared.
Fletcher watched as the angry white mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which reminded the 109-year-old of one of the worst moments of her life.
Howard said Fletcher feared telling her story, afraid of what could happen to her and her family if she did. Many survivors feared talking about the horror, fearful the government would come for them and their loved ones.
“It was hard to even get her to talk about the story because many people are not aware that they had a concentration-like camp, and so everybody that didn’t escape and everybody they didn’t kill was put in a makeshift prison,” Howard remarked. “They told everybody, ‘If you talk about this, we will kill you and your entire family.’”
He continued, “When you can put shackles on a person’s mind, that’s very powerful, and that’s why the story was kept under wraps for so long,” Howard said. “For a long time, she would not even discuss it. She wouldn’t even admit it.”
White people at the time hated Greenwood’s success because it meant Black people were thriving and content. Greenwood had establishments that catered to Blacks. It was too dangerous to explore whether other businesses outside the town provided services to Black people. So, the Black dollar circulated in Greenwood.
The underlying cause of the massacre was that whites hated that Blacks no longer considered themselves inferior because they were successful in Greenwood’s confines. It went against their negative perception of African Americans. But no matter how successful Blacks were, whites preferred to believe their inaccurate perception of Blacks, making them feel justified to burn the town down and kill about 300 citizens.
However, the world will see the tragic moments 7-year-old Fletcher lived through and had to witness due to ignorance and bigotry.
“She’s seen the worst of America and some of the best of America,” Howard said. “We want to let people know you’re never too old to tell your story.”
